Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 15:22:46 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199801262022.PAA05789@freenet2.carleton.ca.carleton.ca>
From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia)
To: nfd
Subject: The News From Dayton -- 01/26/98
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THE NEWS FROM DAYTON
For the week of January 26, 1998
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Souled Out in Dayton! / Tyson v. Austin?
Read on for more on today's Headline Stories!
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The News From Dayton is compiled weekly by:
Rick Scaia
(ag725@freenet.carleton.ca)
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The News -- For the Week of January 26, 1998
The News From Dayton remains a combination of the MOST RELIABLE wrestling
news as reported elsewhere in the wrestling underground and the most
interesting morsels of exclusive and unique news that I can dig up. The
goal is the both inform and entertain you, the Home Viewer, without
cluttering up your brain with total lies and fabrications that are common
on other web pages.
By the way, if you are reading the NFD on one of the RSPW newsgroups, or
anywhere on the web other than the Official News From Dayton Web Site, or
if you are linking directly here without checking out the main NFD
Headlines Page, I strongly encourage you to make the jump to the NFD on the
web at http://homepages.udayton.edu/~scaiarij/wrestling/nfd.htm
I think you'll find the trip worthwhile, as there are many exclusive
features to the NFD Web Site, along with updates on breaking news, so that
you don't have to wait a full week for the NFD's take on the latest rumors.
THIS WEEK'S NEWS...
* A year has passed since WCW/NWO Souled Out 1997, and with that year,
the memory of what was widely regarded as perhaps the worst major PPV
event in wrestling history has dimmed. Last night at Dayton's Hara
Arena, WCW went a long way to totally wiping out that memory, as they
presented what turned out to be a very strong Souled Out sequel for
fans around the globe.
With highly anticipated matches pitting Ric Flair against Bret Hart
and Kevin Nash vs. the Giant bolstering the top of the card, WCW also
presented three opening matches that were all extremely entertaining.
In fact, the strength of the opening hour is what set the tone for the
rest of the show. Souled Out, as a whole, seemed the exact opposite of
most recent WWF PPVs: a very strong opening few matches helped out
settle in and enjoy what would otherwise be very mediocre top of the
card matches. On Titan cards, especially the recent Royal Rumble, you
get one or two super matches on top that are necessary to wipe out the
memory of the very mediocre (at best) prelim matches.
BTW, it's worth noting that despite my status as Dayton, Ohio's Number
One Wrestling Fan, I watched this show on TV like most of you. Even
though the show took place 15 minutes from my house, a number of
factors conspired to make my attendence at the live event impossible.
Chief among those factors: (a) I'm not the kind of guy who stands in
line for tickets the morning the go on sale (if other people want to
do so, and the result is that tickets sell out in a couple of hours,
fine... I'll just watch on TV; they obviously want to go to the show
more than me); and (b) the University of Dayton Flyers battle Atlantic
10 foes -- and 18th ranked -- Xavier earlier in the day (being a part
of the kick-ass crowd of 13,521 at the UD Arena was a great way to
watch the Flyers dismantle the Muskies... and it would have made
watching Souled Out with 5000 other fans a bit anti-climactic, I
fear). But in the interim between post-game afternoon celebration and
the evening's more inebrious partying, soaking in Souled Out on the TV
was a decent way to waste 3 hours of time.
The show shaped up like this:
o In the opener, 8 luchadores got things off to a wicked pace.
Chavo Guerrero, Juventud Guerrera, Lizmark Jr., and Super Calo
faced off against La Parka, Psicosis, El Dandy, and Silver King
in what turned out to be a very good match. The end came after
the traditional car wreck spot, with 6 guys taking each other out
on the outside of the ring, while Chavo managed to pin Psicosis
back in the ring with a spinning DDT. La Parka came in after the
match with a chair and cleared the ring, taking out not only his
opponents, but also his teammates, which got him a number of
cheers from the crowd.
o Next up, Chris Benoit took on Raven in what also turned out to be
a very good match. I'm finally starting to watch matches like
this in WCW without always wishing it was ECW, so the match would
just kick ass. As it was, Raven and Benoit did a couple of nice
chair spots, and a lot of other hard hitting moves before Raven
eventually submitted to the crossface. When the Flock attacked
after the match, Dean Malenko made the save for Benoit.
o A third solid match followed, as Rey Misterio Jr. defended his
Cruiserweight Title against Chris Jericho. Several nice spots,
and good psychology built this up to the closing spot, which was
easily the coolest reversal into a Boston Crab that I've ever
seen: Jericho reversed a top rope 'rana attempt, and landed in
perfect position to cinch in the crab. Afterwards, Jericho again
"snapped" and further destroyed Rey's knee. Jericho actually
seems pretty over as a heel right now, but I don't see the point
of using him as a Cruiserweight, when he's obvisouly so much
bigger than most of the other cruisers.
o At this point, things slowed down a bit, as Roddy Piper "hosted"
an over-long segment that explained the future of the WCW Title.
Piper ordered that the title shot Scott Hall earned by winning
World War 3 was to be put on hold, so that Sting and Hulk Hogan
could battle until there was a decisive winner and a new champ at
SuperBrawl. Hall left the ring, upset at the whole thing, leaving
Hogan to cower in fear alone from Piper and Sting.
o Rick Martel's sudden push to the top of WCW finally took a wrong
turn, as he was dropped by Booker T in a TV Title match. Despite
heelish antics by Martel at various points in the match, he
settled down and shook Booker T's hand after it was all over.
This match was mostly old school, with too many arm bars and rest
holds for my taste... but by this point, we were into the show,
so it didn't matter as much.
o Scott Hall (accompanied by Louie Spicolli) hit the ring next to
take on Larry Zybszko (who was seconded by Dusty Rhodes). This
was more of the old school, and combined with the previous match,
resulted in more abdominal stretches in 20 minutes than I've seen
in the last year. This was kept shorter, however, as Zybszko
eventually suckered Hall into getting choked out. Spicolli came
in to cause the DQ, but also brought Dusty in. The crowd went
wild as Louie was sent flying by a series of bionic elbows. But
when Dusty wound up the ol' elbow and aimed it at Hall, he
accidently (hah!) hit Zybszko. Dusty disrobed to reveal an NWO
t-shirt, and then joined Hall and Louie in beating on Larry.
Pretty surprising, yes, but ultimately, a meaningless heel turn.
The utter meaningless of it was only driven home as Tony
Schiavone sputtered on commentary for the next hour about how
heart-broken he was; each time he tried to convey that Dusty
turning was the biggest thing since Hogan turned, it only served
to remind everyone listening that this really WASN'T a big deal
at all. This was my only real complaint of the evening, and it
really isn't a big one....
o Next up, the Steiners and Ray Traylor teamed up to take on the
NWO B-Team (Konnan, Buff Bagwell, and Scott Norton). The story
here is that Scott Steiner has been hogging ring time in recent
matches, so Traylor and Rick Steiner avoided tagging him in
during this match. Finally, Traylor really had no choice but to
tag Scott, so Scotty came in and cleaned house and got the pin
very quickly. Afterwards, Scott and Bagwell have another "mutual
respect" posedown that serves to piss of Rick, Ray, and Ted
DiBiase. This was a nothing match, but it keeps the Steiner
storyline moving forward.....
o Giant vs. Nash. Up till the end, this was a mostly clean match,
with both guys trying pretty hard to put on a good show. Nash
brought back the old tope dive he used to do as Diesel, and Giant
had a few nice power displays. All said, though, not as tight as
I had hoped. In the end, Hogan and Bischoff conspired to distract
the ref long enough for the Giant to get a face full of "scalding
hot coffee." This gave Nash the opportunity to perform the rudest
powerbomb I have ever seen, as he wound up dropping the Giant
almost straight on his head. Nash got the pinfall. I honestly
feared the worst for the Giant, and when the WCW trainer hit the
ring, I thought maybe, just maybe, it was cuz the Giant really
hurt himself bad in the fall. And then I saw that the trainer was
just going forward with an obviously pre-planned bit to have the
Giant sell the hot-coffee-to-the-eyes like he was blind, and was
giving no attention to the Giant's neck. So I felt like a sucker.
Still, a wicked bump by the Giant.
o For no reason that I could discern, Ric Flair and Bret Hart came
out in the semi-main event. I can think of no good reason not to
have put these two on last.... as good as the build-up was, I
think we all probably had elevated expectations of the match
itself. As it turned out, the match was good, but unspectacular.
Flair just can't turn to knob up past 6 or 7 any more, and Hart's
not the flashiest guy in the world. When Hart got Flair to submit
to a Sharpshooter at the 17 minute mark, I was just starting to
get into the match, and expected it to last much longer. Instead,
we got the anticlimactic finish. Still a solid effort, and there
is probably room for a rematch, if it is deemed appropriate by
the powers that be.
o That left Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage as the main event. This
should have been under both Giant/Nash and Flair/Hart, but wound
up topping the show. This went less than 10 minutes before Luger
got Savage in the rack, which drew out the NWO, and resulted in
chaos for a few minutes. Sting came in to save Luger, and the two
celebrated Luger's win as the show came to an end.
Altogether, an easy Thumbs Up that was set up by the three opening
matches setting such an upbeat mood.
* Ratings for the latest edition of WCW Thunder saw the show pull a 3.3
in hour one and a 3.9 in hour two, for a composite rating of 3.6.
* After spending much of the last week just assuming that reports of
Mike Tyson taking on Steve Austin at WrestleMania should be taken at
face value, some folks are actually questioning whether that'll
actually happen.
First, early last week, promotional artwork for WM14 was released to
cable companies, and featured Mike Tyson prominently, but had Shawn
Michaels and Steve Austin in lesser-but-equal spots (indicating to
some that Austin/Michaels for the WWF Title is still a scheduled
match).
Now it is expected that Michaels will interject himself into the Tyson
situation, possibly as early as tomorrow's RAW (it would have to be
something other than a segment taped last Tuesday, however, as
Michaels did not address Tyson in his brief appearances on the
TitanTron at the tapings). Michaels was, you recall, the first to
"call out" Tyson on the live RAW previous to the Royal Rumble.
Since many have speculated that Tyson's stint with the WWF is part of
an effort to rehabilitate his public image, it wouldn't really be wise
for Tyson to be involved against Austin (who is the most popular man
in the sport right now). Tyson would be booed. Involving Michaels
would give Tyson the opportunity to be a fan favorite to some.
For what it's worth, the WWF doesn't seem to mind people having the
idea in their head that Tyson will compete at 'Mania. Austin himself
will do an in-ring monologue regarding Tyson on RAW tomorrow, and Don
King will speak in a pre-recorded piece. And if you ask me, Titan is
smart enough to know not to build up these expectations unless they
can follow through...
* Also on the Monday night shows tomorrow: Owen Hart will be given a
chance to win the WWF Euro Title from "Triple H" on RAW, and Nitro
moves to three hours per week.
The three hours of Nitro is a move being made by WCW and TNT to put a
halt to recent ratings success by the WWF. Coming off the PPV, expect
the three hours to be eventful this week... but many have concerns
about WCW's ability to put on 5 interesting hours of live prime time
programming per week.
* From the sounds of things, scratch the Legion of Doom from the "No Way
Out" PPV main event I had reported about 3 weeks ago... instead, look
for Terry Funk and Cactus Jack to team with Owen Hart and Steve Austin
against the foursome of Shawn Michaels, HHH, Billy Gunn, and Jesse
James.
Also on the NWO PPV: Kane vs. Vader.... TAKA Michinoku vs.
Pantera..... and Nation of Domination vs. Ahmed/Shamrock/DOA. Expect a
couple more matches to be added, as well.
* Finally, apologies to web site visitors for not updating anything
besides the news areas of the NFD. With all efforts focused on getting
Online Onslaught ready to go, there just hasn't been time to take care
of the Readers' Forum and other areas. Expect all those areas to be
updated regularly once that change over to "OO" is made!
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The News From Dayton is Copyright 1995, 1998 by Rick Scaia.
--
Rick Scaia | VISIT ME ON THE WEB
A True Yankee Bastard | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/
ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | http://homepages.udayton.edu/~scaiarij/
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